Starlette
Feminine · “English starlet”
A starlet is a small star and the word was an insult from the start. Hollywood coined it in the 1920s for young actresses under contract who had not yet been given anything to do, and the diminutive was the point: not a star, a little one, and probably not going to be more. Adding -ette doubles the diminutive.
How old is the name Starlette?
Starlette first appears in US birth records in 1943 — 82 years ago. The typical Starlette alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 700 people named Starlette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Starlette most popular?
Starlette peaked in 1965, reaching #2833 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 5,529 places below that high. See the whole 1965 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From star to Starlette
The story of Starlette
English has two live diminutive suffixes and both do social work. The -let of booklet, piglet, droplet and starlet marks something small and frequently something lesser: a leaflet is not a serious document. The -ette of kitchenette, novelette and usherette marks something small, something cheap, or something female, and the third use has been resented for a century, since a suffix that marks the female version of a job implies the male is standard. Suffragette began as a newspaper's insult and was adopted defiantly by the women it was aimed at, which is one of the few times that has worked. Starlet never got that treatment and remained dismissive. What the name does is stack both endings, which is unusual: English rarely lets diminutives combine, and doing it here produces a word that is twice reduced.
Meaning
English starlet, a young or minor film actress
From English star with the diminutive -let, giving starlet, first recorded in the 1920s for a young actress under studio contract. Starlette adds the French feminine diminutive -ette on top of the English one, so the name carries two diminutive suffixes at once. It peaks in the American data in 1965.
How the name formed
- star
- starlet
- Starlette
Pronouncing Starlette
STAR-let
Two syllables, stress on the first. star-LET with the stress at the end is also heard and follows the French pattern of the ending. The final e is silent.
Nicknames for Starlette
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1943
- Most girls named
- 197719 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2833reached in 1965
- Change vs 2024
- +100.0%12 in 2025, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Starlette in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Starlettes among us
people named Starlette are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Starlette
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rozalia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Starlette's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rozalia climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rozalia's path sketches the road Starlette is walking now.
Starlette sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Starlette beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Starlette in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Star is a strong and immediately usable short form.
- The word is familiar and the spelling is unambiguous.
- The sound is distinctive.
- The word starlet is dismissive in its ordinary use.
- Two stress patterns circulate.
- The name is closely dated to the middle of the twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Starlette
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Starlettes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Starlette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Starlette in 2025?
- Starlette ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Starlette?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Starlette — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Starlette with classmates?
- Starlette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Starlette
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Starlette? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Starlette and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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